College Essay Resources

There is no shortage of evidence that large numbers of students from certain private and public high school end up at elite universities. As noted by others, many students from Boston Latin School go to Harvard and many from Princeton High School go to Princeton. When I got to Dartmouth, I flipped through the Freshman Book — a hardcopy precursor to Facebook — I noted an unusual number of students from both Andover and Exeter. To me, the question is whether there is causation

For anyone interested in attending Harvard — or any other elite university — the question of developing a so-called spike is a good one. The starting point should probably be understanding the context. Admissions offices at elite schools are inundated with applications from what I call “high numbers students,” by which I mean students with GPAs north of 4.0 and sky high test scores: 34+ ACT and 1500+ SAT. Even after adding a pile of AP classes to the mix, admissions officers

Dartmouth, like all elite colleges, has qualities which are favored in the admissions process. Of the 2,092 students who were offered admission to the most recent class, 10% were recruited athletes, 9% were legacies, and 15% were the first in their family to attend college. Another 11% came from from foreign countries. Being in one of these groups does not get you into Dartmouth. It does get you an edge. For everyone else, admission hinges on two factors. One is numbers. To

It is hard to look at Aaron, Nick, Nigel and Zach Wade -- all four accepted to both Yale and Harvard -- and see anything other than a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon, a Haley’s Comet in the world of college admissions. I am confident that the odds of a similar success are low. Extremely low. I am also confident that while “quadruplet” is the kind of quirk that gets attention, none of the brothers was accepted to any college simply because he was part of a package. Each student